T H E 2 0 1 7 S E A S O N
W
hen the white curtain was re-
moved to uncover a navy blue ren-
dering of the year "2016" in honor
of Penn State's Big Ten title, two of Grant
Haley's career-de5ning moments were
immortalized on Beaver Stadium's facade.
With the fate of their season hanging in
the balance, the senior cornerback was
twice in the exact place where the Nittany
Lions needed him, and thanks to Haley's
heroics, a small but profound change is
now evident in Penn State's locker room
discourse.
At this time a year ago, nobody on the
Nittany Lions' roster had ever won the
conference title, so they prepared like a
team that was hungry for a breakout. This
season, they shi8ed their focus to a dif-
ferent trophy.
"Now we're sitting here
talking about, 'What does
it take to win a national
championship?' " Haley
said in an early-October
conversation. "We don't
know. So if we don't know,
then we can't be satis5ed with what we're
doing each day."
The Lions' postseason outlook hadn't
even begun to come into focus heading
into an eight-day stretch featuring games
against Big Ten East Division
powers Michigan and Ohio
State. But the sense of antici-
pation surrounding those
games was indicative of a
change in Penn State's status.
The Lions had reasserted
themselves as a nationally rel-
OFF TO THE
RACES Haley's
first-quarter in-
terception helped
Penn State jump
on top of Pitt ear-
lier this season.
Photo by Steve
Manuel
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